NY mayor to put 'cost of war' sign on City Hall

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) - An upstate New York mayor has announced plans to hang an electronic sign outside City Hall displaying the ongoing taxpayer cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan, a Democrat, says he hopes tallying the ongoing expense in a prominent place will help stimulate a debate on the nation's spending priorities.

The mayor says the 4-foot-wide "cost of war" sign will display information about the cost to local, state and federal taxpayers. The $6,000 sign is being paid for by the Broome County Cost of War Project, a local peace activist group.

The move has been greeted with praise and criticism as well as questions about whether an arguably political statement belongs on the side of a public building.